Benjamin Lumley
Benjamin Lumley (1811 – 17 March 1875 in London) was a
Beginnings at His Majesty's Theatre
Lumley's father was a clothes-dealer who had made his original fortune in British North America. The young Benjamin Levy was a pupil at King Edward's School, Birmingham.[1]
Lumley trained as a solicitor, and then studied for
Lumley had already written a standard handbook on
The conductor at Her Majesty's was Michael Costa. By their different natures – one a devotee of high musical standards, the other a connoisseur of the star system, Lumley and Costa should have made a perfect team. Indeed they were so for the first five years, one of the longer surviving partnerships of the age. Artistic progress, induced by Lumley, against the inclinations of the more conservative Costa, included the introduction of operas by Giuseppe Verdi to London and of new stars of song and dance, negotiations with Felix Mendelssohn for an opera on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and in 1847 the London debut of Jenny Lind. The resulting financial success led the optimistic Lumley to purchase the underlying lease of the theatre.
One of the sensations of Lumley's management was the appearance in 1845 of the balletic '
Conflict with Costa
First, Costa felt neglected by Lumley, who wisely from an artistic point of view was not keen to produce Costa's own ballets and operas. Furthermore, Lumley refused to let Costa to take up the task of chief conductor to the
Lumley swiftly fought back, showing all his skills as an opportunist. He engaged the composer
Verdi left Italy at the end of May 1847 with his work for London completed except for the orchestration, which he left until the opera was in rehearsal. The cast for the première on 22 July 1847 was of the highest international standard. In particular, as the highlight of her first season in England, the great Swedish
After considerable persuasion, Verdi agreed to conduct the première, which was a triumphant success; the press was for the most part generous in its praise. Fortunately for Lumley, things had turned out well and very profitably. Lind appeared as Alice in Robert le diable by Giacomo Meyerbeer, and Mendelssohn, who on his last London visit had encouraged her to take up Lumley's offer, was in the audience despite his known distaste for Meyerbeer's work.
Lumley had also extensively advertised Mendelssohn's Tempest opera as forthcoming. This was a bare-faced lie. Mendelssohn found the libretto by
Financial problems
Meanwhile Lumley had extended his interests by taking on additionally the management of the
By 1853 the financial problems were overwhelming, and Lumley ran for cover to France. He was tempted back when in 1856, the Covent Garden Theatre once again caught fire, and for three years he resumed the leadership of Italian opera in London. But when Covent Garden was rebuilt as the same theatre that stands today, he was offered the tenure for £100,000 [citation needed], but simply lacked the funds.
Abandonment of the opera
Lumley returned to the law, and in his later years wrote two works of fantasy – Sirenia; or, Recollections of a Past Existence (1863) and Another World (1873)[4] – and a legal reference book. His previous successes were never to be repeated. He died in 1875, leaving less than £1000 in his will.[5]
References
Notes
Sources
- Conway, David (2012). Jewry in Music: Entry to the Profession from the Enlightenment to Richard Wagner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-01538-8.
- Lumley, Benjamin (1864), Reminiscences of the Opera, London
- Matthew, Colin, and Brian Harrison, eds (2000), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP, ISBN 0-19-861413-6